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Immigration lawyer
Michael Boyle
, who has an office in Danbury, said nurses traditionally have come from the Philippines or Ireland because those countries have the education most equivalent to that in the U.S. and the best English-language skills. Many others come from India.

The U.S. shortages, however, would be filled at the expense of the nurses' native lands.

There is an ethical debate about taking skilled nurses away from foreign countries that need them, said
Margaret Flinter
, president of the
Connecticut Nurses
' Association.

While she thinks immigrants "have the right to seek the best life for themselves," she wishes other countries would see the value of keeping their nurses.

She believes the U.S. shortages are directly related to the profession not being as respected and valued as it once was and that the shortage "is solvable domestically."

, said the nursing shortage "was created not because of the lack of nurses, but the huge cohort of baby boomers - people living longer."

She attributes the problem to a dearth of nursing faculty - Ph.D. "faculty positions are the most undercompensated positions in nursing" - and believes bilingual nurses can be found in first- and second-generation U.S. immigrants.

"We are so short at this point, it is not an issue," she said. "The legislation would be good to protect us from going into a much worse shortage."

She hopes as more nursing students graduate in the U.S., the government will restrict the number of immigrant nurses.

The only time Danbury Hospital needed immigrants to fill open positions, said
Phyllis F. Zappala
, vice president of human resources at the hospital, was about 15 years ago, when a handful of nurses came from the Philippines.

Some of them still work there and recommend other nurses from the Philippines join them.

Four years ago, to encourage its employees to become nurses, the hospital began to pay college tuition for nursing students who work minimum 16 hours a week in any job at the hospital and continue satisfactory performance.

The hospital now has 100 nursing assistants, and the last time Zappala counted 57 were enrolled in the paid-tuition program.

"We love it," she said. "It gives us an opportunity to grow in our own. These are good employees who want to get ahead and are motivated. They may not have the financial access to pay for it on their own. It helps us and it helps them."

Nursing is a great, worthy, necessary occupation, Zappala said. "This is a wonderful way to fill the pipeline for the future of our community."